


bittersweet

by 0fsilver



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Not Beta Read, Season 13 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 20:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5177900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0fsilver/pseuds/0fsilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is not the happy end you promised.</p><p>But it will have to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bittersweet

 

 

Just lost to the edges of known space there is a missing little colony.

Near impossible to find on purpose, it was Felix’s poor navigation which left them standing on frosted shores and a gray sea.  Cold, but not frozen. All color seemed scrubbed away from the surface of the little world giving everything the look of being lost. The colony like a child’s play set left to the bite of a creeping winter. Forgotten.

They didn’t stay there long. Lingered to explore, see if they could exploit the misplaced colony. Locus and he were greeted with both suspicion and curiosity. What handful of citizens remaining on the shore welcomed them with uncertain smiles and a naive willingness to share what they had. The colony was self sufficient for the most part. Not enough generated revenue to even pay workers. All things in trade. Skill valued above dollar. Felix scoffed at this when backs were turned but their simplicity touched a corner of Locus’ mind. These people didn’t know of struggle, or even war. They heard echoes, at times witnessed military ships scorching their sustainable atmosphere from space, but little else. Felix saw them like children and Locus found a somber peace in their sheltered city of so few.

They stayed no more than a month. Enough time to purchase and arrange a small home on the edge of the sea for themselves if ever needed. Collect security boxes and make friendly with new neighbors. They spent time updating dusty computer systems and showed the few young men parlor tricks. Felix charmed women with his smile and they kept up the rouse of aimless travelers to their own satisfaction.  

“This will be a good place to hide out, duck under any heat.” Felix hummed thoughtfully one night, chewing a mouthful of smoke from unmodified tobacco. Unheard of in the rest of their universe. Farmers and craftsmen, it felt like tripping back into history.

“It’s not too cold for you?” These people were simple. Pointless. Yet somehow, more alive than the golden and crystal cities Felix and he preferred. Cleaner than the rusted souls of pirates and merchants who so frequently joined at their table. Locus didn’t hate it. There was a silence to this colony. Their people round and short, beards thin and hair dark. No more than three had been outside of their colony since the beginning and that promised a certain safety to Felix that Locus had to appreciate.

“It’s not too terrible. Besides, you’ll keep me warm.” Felix teased and leaned against Locus’ side as they watched the lights die from a far sun. Comfortable in the outdated cabin pod they claimed for themselves with floors of cement and walls hiding more weapons than the entire colony combined. “I think this can be a decent safe house. We’ll need a few.”

They’ve traveled the stars as partners, and only in this seaside village had either of them found a night of honest rest.

They left the colony with a promise to return with new parts for generators and treats for the children. The village unaware what wolves they invited to their doorstep.

It was a promise Felix and he kept three times in their years traveling. If it was convenient they stopped by the lost world. Brought them gifts and newer equipment. Assisted in repairs and played their roles. Celebrities in a way, marveling at Felix’s stories of half truths and spun webs. Children shyly adoring Locus from afar. Bringing parents (and Felix) to bark with laughter as they scurried away with young shrieks if he moved too suddenly. Landing on the chilled sands was like entering another world. One where their false names of “Adam” and “ Remus” meant something. Where they could play whatever line they wished and be taken by their word. A land untouched by the bloodshed they themselves were born from.

It was the reason why Locus returned here once Felix woke up.

Their seaside home is now free of weapons and clutter to accommodate Felix’s chair. Shelves stocked with groceries and medicine whereas their homes before held only alcohol and ammunition. Locus is Remus. Felix is Adam. And as far as the locals know there was an accident, and nothing more.

They don’t know these two men nearly murdered a planet. They don’t know how Locus let Felix die, or the weight of his guilt once he fell to knees to collect the body. They can’t know the way Locus’ every molecule screamed in horror as the crumpled body at the base of the tower tried to breathe once more.

They know only the shape of Remus pushing Adam’s chair down the beach. The sound of frosted sand crunching beneath heavy boots. That Remus tucks a blanket at Adam’s throat, keeps him from the cold like a promise. There, at gray shores and frozen waters they speak in private on many things. What little Adam can remember until his moods turns and exhaustion is clear on his thin face. Brilliant smile fading into the past. An echo of his former self with fast hands and daring charm. Now just a man too weak to walk even with prosthetics. For whom Locus held a surgeon at gun point for three months until Felix was breathing on his own.

Here at the mouth of a cold sea, watching waves crash and retreat only to fight again, there is a peace. Here, if Adam asks what happened to them, Remus doesn’t lie. He tells his partner that a man named Felix did this to them, that a monster called Locus helped. That they are not good men themselves but one day, perhaps, when Adam is strong enough. Once he again has two hands and the strength to walk. If one day they can return to the stars that they’ll have a new mission.

“And what’s that?” Adam questions, despite Remus having told him before. Every day even. Every time Adam forgets, he’ll remind him. Remus bends at the waist and kisses Adam’s brow above fat, white scars and surgical lines. Where he can feel Adam’s pulse against his lip and the brush of lashes as the man rolls his eyes.

“We’ll make things right.”

 

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